Robinhood raised $1 billion in emergency funds from investors this week as the platform struggles with a surge in trading, NYT report says

• Robinhood raised $1 billion from existing investors this week.
• The trading platform is struggling with a surge in trading of some stocks, including GameStop.
• Earlier Thursday, the firm also borrowed “several hundred million dollars” from banks.
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Robinhood raised $1 billion from its existing investors this week, The New York Times reported.

The firm is struggling to handle a surge in trading on the platform involving a number of stocks that have been the target of short squeezes, driven largely by the WallStreetBets Reddit forum, a group of retail traders that helped drive up the share prices of GameStop and AMC Theaters, among others.

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev said Thursday that the company did not have liquidity issues, after Bloomberg reported that the firm had borrowed “at least several hundred million dollars” from banks amid the trading chaos.

Read more: How hedge funds are tracking Reddit posts to protect their portfolios after the Wall Street Bets crowd helped tank Melvin Capital’s short positions

The trading platform also temporarily stopped purchases of certain stocks, sparking outrage from lawmakers and business leaders.

In an email sent to Robinhood users on Thursday, the company said limited purchases of those stocks would be allowed on Friday, but that it would continue to “monitor the situation and may make adjustments as needed.” 

“To be clear, the decision was not made on the direction of any market maker we route to or other market participants,” the statement continued. 

Robinhood was still in need of more cash to avoid implementing further trading restrictions, two sources told The Times.

The privately-held company’s investors include venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and Rabbit Capital, both of which provided additional funding Thursday, The Times reported.

“This is a strong sign of confidence from investors that will help us continue to further serve our customers,” a spokesperson for Robinhood, told The Times.

On Thursday a dozen House Republicans sent a letter to the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission calling on it to investigate possible collusion between Robinhood and any hedge funds.